CHAPTEE YI. 



OPERATIONS ON BONES. 



PEACTUEES. 



In technical language a fracture is a " solution of contiauity in 

 the structure or substance of a bone," and it ranks among the 

 most serious of the lesions to which the horse — or any animal- 

 can be subject. It is a subject of special interest to veterinarians, 

 and to horse owners as well, in view of the variety of forms in 

 which it may occm% as well as of the loss of time to which it sub- 

 jects the patient, and the consequent suspension of his earning 

 capacity. Though of less serious consequence in the horse than 

 in man, it is always a matter of grave import. It 

 is always slow and tedious in healing, and is fre- 

 quently of doubtful and unsatisfactory result. 

 . -»j^ -_H. This solution of continuity may take place in 



"^ \ ■ ^'*^° principal ways. In the most numerous in- 

 stances it includes the total thickness of the bone 

 and is a complete fracture. In other cases it in- 

 volves a portion only of the thickness of the bone, 

 and for that reason is described as 

 incomplete (Fig. 250). If the bone 

 is divided into two separate portions, 

 and the soft parts have received no 

 injury, the fracture is a simple one; 

 or it becomes compound if the soft 

 parts have suffered laceration, and 

 commiinuted if the bones have been 

 crushed or ground into fragments, 

 many or few. The direction of the 

 break also determines its further 

 classification. Broken at a right an- 



FiG.249.-compiete S^^' ^^ ^^ transverse (Fig. 251); at a 

 Fracture. different angle it becomes oblique 



